Rocket® ACUCOBOL-GT®

The Rocket ACUCOBOL-GT Extension for Visual Studio Code provides support for creating, editing, compiling, and debugging ACUCOBOL-GT code in Visual Studio Code.

The extension supports existing ACUCOBOL-GT (extend®) AcuBench® projects and new AcuBench projects created using the extension.

Read the full documentation for Rocket ACUCOBOL-GT here.

Features include:

• Editing AcuBench Projects - supports the creation and editing of Rocket AcuBench projects (including those created using the Rocket AcuBench desktop product), programs, and screens.
• Editing AcuBench Screens - supports the editing of screen content - adding, modifying, and removing controls.
• Building AcuBench Projects - supports the building of projects and programs.
• Debugging AcuBench Projects - supports run-time debugging of the generated code.

See Scope of the Support in this Version for details on features that are not yet implemented.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Code version 1.92 or later is required.
• Rocket extend version 11.0 or later installed on the same machine is required to use the compile and debug features.
• Rocket extend version 11.0 or later is also required to run the Screen Designer.

Help with this Extension

Visit the Community Forum for help with the extension and to discuss this product with other users and Rocket Software product specialists. For help with functionality in the extension that relies on your licensed Rocket extend product, you can also contact Rocket Software Customer Care.

Verifying the Digital Signature

The .vsix package for this extension can be verified using a hosted digital signature. For more details, see Verifying the Digital Signature of a Rocket Extension for Visual Studio Code.

New Features

What's new in version 1.3.0

• Working Storage Editor - "Find in Objects" - Display and allow navigation to variable usages following search, delete or rename
• Environment Variables - Editing support
• Screen Designer - Collapse/Expand right pane
• Online Documentation - Tutorials

For features that were added in earlier versions, check the Changelog of this extension.

Project Support

The Project View enables you to:

• Create a project
• Create a program
• Edit a program's Event Paragraph
• Edit a program's Working Storage
• Invoke Generate, Build, Compile, Debug, and Run commands

The Project View also supports the following features to help you edit application screens:

• Create a screen
• Delete a screen
• Rename a screen
• Open a screen for editing

Screen Design Support

The Screen Designer provides the following functionality to enable graphic screen design and modification:

• Create a control
• Cut, copy, paste, or delete one or more controls
• Move and resize controls
• Modify screen and control properties

Code Editing Support

The Visual Studio Code editor provides the following:

• Syntax highlighting
• Support for code snippets
• Highlighting compilation errors and reporting them in the PROBLEMS view
• Indenting code to align with COBOL rulers while preserving the left margin

Building Support

Visual Studio Code offers build tasks to compile code in an AcuBench project, as well as custom shell build tasks. The build tasks are available from the Terminal menu.

Debugging Support

This extension provides debugging functionality using the Rocket extend Debugger.

Scope of Support in this Version

This version of the Rocket ACUCOBOL-GT Extension has the following limitations:

• A licensed installation of Rocket extend (version 11.0 or later) must be present.
• The extension runs on Windows platforms only.
• Project limitations:
  • Cannot rename a project.
  • Cannot rename a program.
  • Projects created with this extension are limited to one program.
• Only basic COBOL editing is supported. Advanced editing, such as intellisense and go-to-reference, is not.
• Only run-time debugging is supported.
• The following are not supported:
  • Linkage Section editor
  • Dataset and files
  • Reports
  • Creating, viewing, and editing character-based screens
  • Remote compile
  • ActiveX controls

Read the Rocket Software License and Services Agreement here.